Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c40.209

v3.c40.209

Flocks (here termed chang) of goats and sheep are pastured in vast numbers in the desert. It is asserted that the goat can subsist without water from the month of Karttik to the middle of Chait, the autumnal to the spring equinox [329]—apparently an impossibility : though it is well known that they can dispense with it during six weeks when the grasses are abundant. In the thals of Daudputra and Bhattipo, they remove to the flats of Sind in the commencement of the hot weather. The shepherds, like their flocks, go without water, but find a substitute in the *chhachh*, or buttermilk, after extracting the butter, which is made into *ghi*, and exchanged for grain, or other necessaries. Those who pastured camels also live entirely upon their milk, and the wild fruits, scarcely ever tasting bread.